The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Jina L. Choi as director of the San Francisco Regional Office, where she will oversee enforcement and examinations in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

Ms. Choi joined the SEC staff in 2000 and became a branch chief in 2005 before being promoted to assistant director in 2010.  In addition to managing cases in the San Francisco office, Ms. Choi has helped lead investigations in the nationwide Market Abuse Unit that focuses on insider trading and other complex manipulation schemes. 

“The San Francisco office has a rich history of robust enforcement activity and is staffed by immensely talented people dedicated to the SEC’s mission,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “Jina has shown great distinction, judgment, and tenacity in working to protect investors since joining the enforcement staff more than a decade ago.  She will be an outstanding leader of the office, and we are delighted to have her join our leadership team.”

Andrew J. Bowden, Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, said, “Jina’s focus and energy have enabled her to establish a great reputation and rapport with the exam team.  We are thrilled that she has agreed to lead the San Francisco office.”

Ms. Choi said, “I am honored and delighted to have been selected to serve as the head of the San Francisco office.  I know firsthand the exceptional talent and dedication of the San Francisco staff and look forward to leading our office’s efforts to protect investors and ensure fair and orderly markets.”

Ms. Choi supervised investigations that resulted in enforcement actions against a Latvian trader and several firms for a massive online account intrusion scheme involving the manipulation of prices of more than 100 NYSE and Nasdaq securities, a former UBS financial adviser for misappropriating funds from clients, and an international insider trading scheme involving repeated leaks of confidential deal information to family members in the United Kingdom.

In addition to her extensive SEC experience, Ms. Choi has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Texas, where she worked in the cybercrime/anti-terrorism and general crimes sections.  Ms. Choi also served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.  She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Ms. Choi earned her bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College and her J.D. from Yale Law School.